CBS has announced they are bring in high-profile producer Rick Kaplan, formerly with CNN, to produce "CBS Evening News" with Katie Couric. I must confess that I like Katie, and am glad to see the change. My first job out of college was at a television station in Indianapolis. I'm a big television fan, but watch it with a critical eye. And the production values of the evening newscast on CBS left much to be desired. Too often Couric would intro a report, and then the video wouldn't work -- or the wrong video would pop up. The production has been sloppy, which has an impact on how an audience views the anchor.
"I love Katie. She is a superb journalist," Kaplan, a former president of CNN and MSNBC and onetime executive producer of ABC's "World News Tonight" and "Nightline," said yesterday. "For me, this whole deal is a no-brainer."
While "Katie could have stopped this from happening if she wanted to," Kaplan said, they have an "extraordinary comfort level" with each other. "I came here because I believe in my soul that Katie is the best" of the anchors, he added.
Kaplan began his career at CBS, from 1969 to 1979, including a stint as an "Evening News" producer under Cronkite.
